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Math IA - modelling trajectory of a projectile (Assassin's Creed)


Vicky Palami

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Hey everyone. So, for my math IA I'm planning to create a mathematical model to represent a leap of faith from Assassin's Creed (a jump from a really tall building), but I have a couple of questions I hope one of you could answer. 

Given that AC is a videogame, then I won't be able to use air resistance as a factor, so I'm scared that without it my work would be considered too simple. Because of that, I was thinking that I could create the equation and then find the probability of surviving the jump if I were to try it. 

Or maybe I could simply create the equation for the videogame first and then just use data from the real world and see how long it would take me to fall or the velocity I would be falling at. 

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To me it sounds like you are going a circuitous way to measure projectile motion. If you want to do projectile motion then you can use real life props and design your own set up, such that you can allow for significant air resistance. But then I just think you are doing so much unnecessary work to do something in physics (I don't know if you have taken an intro physics course before) and using math that may very well limit itself to quadratic formula and have the probability 0 for some height less than a threshold and 1 more some height greater. I would advise against doing this topic. Remember that IB doesn't directly evaluate how much effort or time you put into this exploration so try to think of a topic that involves slightly more advanced math without too much effort on your part. 

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I like this topic. I think you can blend your two suggestions into one. That is, finding the probability of landing given a range of kick-off speeds (or kick-off angles) from the edge of the wall the character is jumping off from. You can easily estimate some kick-off speeds and model an equation with different kick-off angles to see where you land horizontally after you drop to a certain height. It would be interesting to find out the range of angles you should jump off from in order to land safely. All of this can be theoretically without having to collect any data on your own. (Just estimate some speeds and heights and work through everything that way).

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thanks for your replies. I've been thinking a little more and I decided I would like to create the first equation (for the videogame) and then a second one (in the real world with my own data) taking air resistance into account to see how my own "leap of faith" would look like. I feel like that would help me in criteria A, for example. 

Edited by Vicky Palami
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